Dying cold
by Miss Momolo
Summary: "I know you're scared-" "Are you scared, Neji?" she interrupted softly. His head moved her direction and his eyes answered for him.


**Declaimer: **I do not own Naruto or their characters. One-shot. Oh, even though it's not declaimer, please review

As Tenten exhaled air the rain started to pour. As quickly as she could she ran to take cover, adding this to her list of problems. Neji was following behind her. She panted a bit, from the exhaustion of running under a nearby tree and from the training she and Neji were in the middle of. She decided to melt on the ground, since the day was starting to fall to night and there was no chance the rain was going to stop then and if it did it'd be too late.

"At any rate we might as well get sick," she said when she found her breath.

"Not if we dry up," he offered as he squished his white long sleeves, trying to pull the water out.

It only took a minute to hide under the shade but they both look as though they've been standing under the rain for a while. And despite his advice she didn't feel like drying herself, it just fitted the mood. Plus, she didn't mind getting a little sick, or a lot. Did it matter?

"You should get dry," he pressed when he was done with himself, his hair no longer in a hair tie and in the way.

While he'd been at it, she found a comfortable place, using her arms as a pillow and giving her back to him, the perfect view to watch the rain. It _felt_ perfect until he interrupted. "I don't mind."

"You will when you get sick," he said behind her.

"I don't care."

"You know, you'll still go to war even if you're sick. They need everyone, even if they're in their bed dying of a cold." His voice was speaking calmly. Tenten knew that he was trying to let her see reason. She guessed she was still a little blind.

"But we _will_ die once we are at the war."

"So, this about reluctance." He finally said. "You know it's our duty. What we were being trained for, why we were moments ago training for-"

"It's our duty to die, then?" she intervened quickly, her voice cool.

"It's our duty to try." He arranged. "If you wanted a normal life, a family, kids, to live until tomorrow then you shouldn't have come to the Konoha School. You shouldn't be a ninja."

"My ninja way was to see all that halfway there but how can I if I die?"

There was a moment of silence that outstretched and she knew she had proven herself right. But then she felt him knelt behind her as he started to squish the water out of her clothes. She wanted very badly to cry, but she didn't. She wouldn't give Neji the satisfaction, especially when he was doing all that to get her killed. Instead she opted to hide her face deeper in her arms.

"Please stop," her voice begged, wavering.

"I can't," he replied low.

"Please…" she pleaded again, her voice getting smaller.

She felt her hair fall back to her shoulders. She flinched when she felt his hands taking her hair. She commanded herself not get angry or to lose control, but as badly as she wanted she knew she didn't have it in her.

"You have pretty hair," he murmured.

Her eyes stung as a lump rose in her throat. "I don't want you to die…"

She couldn't feel his hands on her hair anymore, and she was too afraid to turn around and see what had made him stop, even though she knew it was her fault. "I don't want anybody to die," she clarified. "If it means that I don't have to watch you all get killed in front of me then a rather get a sick day."

When she finally turned he was looking at her attentively that she had the urge to look away. She didn't, she just looked back at him. He moved away, facing the downpour instead. "I won't die. Nobody's going to die."

"How do you know that?"

"I just do," he simply answered.

"That's the thing, you don't. You might be a genius but you can't see future. You can't calculate the statistics because you know that the rate of those who are possibly going to die are bigger than those who are going to live." Her voice gave away and she swallowed. "And I rather not see the outcome."

"I know you're scared-"

"Are you scared, Neji?" she interrupted softly.

His head moved her direction and his eyes answered for him. "I am. But I'd be more scared if I didn't have a teammate with me, if I were doing it alone. If I die, I don't want to die alone."

The moments seemed to be made out of hours and she blurted out one of her ideas that she'd been hiding since the announcement of the Fourth War. "Why don't we avoid this?"

"Tenten, we can't avoid this, we can't avoid war."

"We could if we run away," she said and he quickly face the rain again, shocked. "Think about it? How can they get us if we're not here? We can go right now and start packing, I can grab some food, I can trust you can get a tent-"

"Tenten," he seemed to use her name a lot, "as thrilling as it sounds I won't abandon my village because I'm scared. If I can die in place of another person I will. It'd be more gratifying if it'd be you. But, I don't know what's with you-"

He stopped talking once he saw her face, she realized through blurry tears. Before he could see more she buried herself deeper in the whole around her arms, gritting her teeth to keep from the trembling. Though it was inevitable as she started to cry. So much for not giving in.

Almost immediately she could feel a hand tapping her back, rubbing it up and down. "Tenten?"

"Hmmm?"

"I'm just as afraid as you are but I rather you be with me in this, so we could support each other. Don't make me lose my ninja way."

Tenten quickly wrapped her arms around him, "Will you help me find mine."

Neji too wrapped his arms around her tightly, "Of course. Always."


End file.
